Editorial: Elect Mary Beth Kelly and Robert Young Jr. to Supreme Court

A decade of acrimony on the Michigan Supreme Court may have reached its sad bottom with an election next week that could swing control of the court between Republican- and Democratic-supported judges.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed the court’s newest justice, Alton Davis, in late August, just in time to give the Democrat the boost of incumbency going into this campaign.

The state Democratic Party, meanwhile, has been smearing incumbent Justice Robert Young Jr. with the thoroughly baseless claim that he has been sleeping on the bench. If Young wasn’t running for office, he might consider a lawsuit for slander.

Michigan residents deserve a professional court and, just as important, one that bases its decisions on existing state law.

The best hope for that to happen is to re-elect Young and to elect fellow Republican Mary Beth Kelly.

Young has emerged as one of the most polarizing figures on this fall’s Michigan ballot. He was appointed by former governor John Engler in 1999 and through the 2008 election, he served in a majority that worked diligently to undo years of liberal judicial activism. Young is consistent in his view that courts must follow the law, not write it to solve society’s ills.

That view is not in favor on Young’s court these days. Voters in 2008 swept out Chief Justice Cliff Taylor in a wave of Democratic support that tilted the court to the left. The new majority has attacked the former court’s rulings with zeal, notably ruling to make it far easier for people to sue in auto-insurance cases.

This is a court that is not looking to preserve the law. It is carrying out a vendetta.

Davis, who became justice in August, has not been part of this wave of revisionism, but there is little doubt that his Democratic backers expect he will. The former appeals court judge is an improvement over the departed Weaver, who feuded openly with the old majority.

So, for that matter, would Denise Langford Morris, an Oakland County circuit judge who is the other Democratic nominee.

Still, the best choice, in addition to Young, is Kelly. She has served on the Wayne County Circuit Court bench for 11 years and is widely described as a fair, respected judicial conservative.

We are confident Kelly would join a new court majority that would base its rulings on Michigan law. That, really, must be the expectation from any court. Lawyers and the public cannot take the risk that legal decisions will change depending on the personal crusade that a judge is carrying out.

It might take a while for the partisanship and hostility surrounding the Michigan Supreme Court to ebb. Voters, however, can take steps to set the court back on the right path this election. On Tuesday, they should elect Mary Beth Kelly and Robert Young Jr.